BRITAIN LAUNCHES PLAN TO EASE DOCTOR WAITING LISTS

 Britain’s health minister on Thursday pledged to cut waiting times for doctors’ appointments and launched a fund to support social care, in a plan that drew criticism for not doing enough to solve a staffing crisis in the National Health Service (NHS).

Britain’s state-funded NHS, which has provided healthcare free at the point of use since 1948, has seen the COVID-19 pandemic increase demand from patients and create backlogs for elective care while facing its worst ever staffing crisis with thousands of vacancies.

Record numbers have been waiting to start routine treatment, ambulance response times have ballooned while face-to-face appointments with general practitioner (GP) doctors are hard to come by as staffing problems hinder the health service. read more

“We expect backlogs to rise before they fall as more patients come forward for diagnosis and treatment after the pandemic,” Health Secretary Therese Coffey told lawmakers.

In her first major statement in the role, Coffey said that she would make changes to take the burden off GPs, by providing more services through pharmacies and changing staffing rules, with the aim that anyone who needs to see a GP should be able to within two weeks.

Coffey said her A, B, C and D of priorities were ambulances, backlogs, care and doctors and dentists.

She said that improving how quickly patients were discharged could help free up beds in hospitals and reduce ambulance delays, and launched a 500 million pound ($564 million) fund to help get people out of hospital and into adult social care.

She also said that the million volunteers who stepped forward during the pandemic should do so again, but lawmakers were sceptical of the plan.

Conservative Jeremy Hunt, a former health minister, said “it’s not more targets the NHS needs, it’s more doctors,” and the opposition Labour Party also said the staffing crisis needed to be solved.

“There is still no plan that comes close to meeting the scale of the challenge,” Labour health spokesman Wes Streeting said.

https://www.pharmalive.com/britain-launches-plan-to-ease-doctor-waiting-lists/

Shionogi Says COVID Pill Trial Shows Reduction in Symptoms

 Japan's Shionogi & Co Ltd said on Wednesday its oral treatment for COVID-19 demonstrated a significant reduction in symptoms compared with a placebo in a Phase III trial in Asia.

The drug, a protease inhibitor known as ensitrelvir, met its primary endpoint in a trial conducted among predominantly vaccinated patients with mild to moderate cases of COVID-19, the company said in a statement.

Shionogi's shares reversed an early decline after the announcement, closing 1.1% higher in Tokyo versus a 1.5 drop in the benchmark Nikkei gauge.

Ensitrelvir met the trial's goal in reducing five key symptoms of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 within 72 hours of onset, the company said.

Regulatory authorities in Japan previously denied emergency approval for use of the pill, saying they wanted to see more data on its effectiveness. There are also concerns the drug could pose risk to pregnancies, based on results from animal studies.

Shionogi said it has shared top-line data from the Phase III study with Japanese regulators as part of deliberations on approval of the drug.

Shionogi has global aspirations for the drug, also known as S-217622 and by the brand name Xocova, which would compete with COVID-19 pills from Pfizer Inc and Merck & Co Inc that have already been approved in Japan and elsewhere.

The company has signed an agreement to sell about a million doses to the government, pending the drug's approval.

Chief Executive Isao Teshirogi has said annual production of the drug could reach 10 million doses. The firm has received U.S. government support for a global Phase III trial.

https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2022-09-27/japans-shionogi-says-covid-pill-reaches-endpoint-in-phase-iii-trial

Iveric: Efficacy of Intravitreal Avacincaptad Pegol in Geographic Atrophy

 Avacincaptad pegol is the first investigational therapy in GA to achieve the 12-month prespecified, primary endpoint, in two pivotal, phase 3 studies

Benefit across subgroups seen in GATHER1 increases with duration of therapy

Prespecified subgroup analysis shows benefit of avacincaptad pegol in all prespecified subgroups

Primary endpoint achieved at year one with a high degree of statistical significance 

https://investors.ivericbio.com/static-files/8e84c2f5-1e03-444a-bf27-8081e441a1b7

Janssen Announces Late-Breaking Data from Two Gene Therapy Programs

 The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson announced today the primary results from the Phase 1/2 study evaluating the investigational gene therapy botaretigene sparoparvovec (formerly AAV-RPGR) in patients with the inherited retinal disease X-linked retinitis pigmentosa (XLRP) associated with the retinitis pigmentosa GTPase regulator (RPGR) gene. Treatment with botaretigene sparoparvovec was found to have an acceptable safety profile, and efficacy assessments in this proof-of-concept study demonstrated encouraging improvements in retinal sensitivity, visual function and functional vision.1 These findings and additional updates, including data from a Phase 1 trial of investigational gene therapy JNJ-81201887 (JNJ-1887) for patients with geographic atrophy (GA), a late-stage and severe form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), were presented in late-breaking oral presentations today at the Retina Subspecialty Day program of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) 2022 Annual Meeting (Abstracts #30071754 and #30071749).

https://www.jnj.com/janssen-announces-late-breaking-data-from-two-gene-therapy-programs-at-the-american-academy-of-ophthalmology-2022-annual-meeting

Cholera Outbreaks Surging Worldwide, Fatality Rates Rising - WHO

 Cholera cases have surged this year, especially in places of poverty and conflict, with outbreaks reported in 26 countries and fatality rates rising sharply, a World Health Organization official said on Friday.

In a typical year, fewer than 20 countries report outbreaks of the disease which is spread by the ingestion of contaminated food or water and can cause acute diarrhoea.

"After years of declining numbers, we are seeing a very worrying upsurge of cholera outbreaks around the globe over the past year," Philippe Barboza, WHO Team Lead for Cholera, told a press briefing in Geneva.

The average fatality rate so far this year has almost tripled compared with the five-year average and is currently around 3% in Africa, he added.

While most of those affected will have mild or no symptoms, cholera can kill within hours if untreated.

A cholera outbreak in Syria has already killed at least 33 people, posing a danger across the frontlines of the country's 11-year-long war and stirring fears in crowded camps for the displaced.

Barboza also expressed concern about outbreaks in the Horn of Africa and parts of Asia, including Pakistan, where some regions are flooded.

He said only a few million doses of vaccines were available for use before the end of this year, citing a shortage of manufacturers among the problems.

WHO maintains an emergency stockpile of cholera vaccines.

"So it's very clear that we do not have enough vaccine to respond to both acute outbreaks and even less to be able to implement preventive vaccination campaigns that could be a way to reduce the risk for many countries," he said.

There was no overall estimate of the number of cholera cases across the world because of differences in countries' surveillance systems, he said.

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2022-09-30/cholera-outbreaks-surging-worldwide-fatality-rates-rising-who

Fetterman mocked for nonsensical answer when asked how he’s feeling

 Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman was ridiculed after a video emerged of him giving an apparently nonsensical answer during a cable news interview.

Fetterman, who is running for Senate in the Keystone State, suffered a stroke in May questions about his health have lingered.

“I just wanted to check in and see how you’re doing,” MSNBC host Chris Hayes asked Fetterman on Friday — noting it was the first time they had spoken since the stroke.

Lt. Gov. Fetterman is running for Senate as a Democratic candidate in Pennsylvania.

Getty Images

“I’m doing fantastic. It’s not about kicking balls in the authority or anything,” Fetterman responded.

The garbled response drew laughs from Republicans who jumped on the clip on Twitter Saturday.

“This has to be the funniest thing I’ve seen this cycle,” said GOP Deputy Communications Director Nathan Brand.

“I’m doing fantastic. It’s not about kicking balls in the authority or anything,” Fetterman responded to MSNBC host Chris Hayes.

Twitter/@RNCResearch

“Like what on earth is that response,” added Steve Guest, an aide to Sen. Ted Cruz.

“He’s taking speaking lesions from Joe Biden,” quipped another Twitter user.

https://nypost.com/2022/10/01/john-fetterman-mocked-for-answer-when-asked-how-hes-feeling/

Moderna refused China request to reveal vaccine technology - FT

 

Moderna Inc has refused to hand over to China the core intellectual property behind the development of its COVID-19 vaccine, leading to a collapse in negotiations on its sale there, the Financial Times reported on Saturday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based pharmaceutical company turned down China's request to hand over the recipe for its mRNA vaccine because of commercial and safety concerns, the newspaper said, citing people involved in negotiations that took place between 2020 and 2021, adding that the vaccine maker is still "eager" to sell the product to China.

The company had "given up" on its previous efforts to access the Chinese market because of China's demand that it hand over the technology as a prerequisite for selling in the country, the report said.

Moderna did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment.

China has not approved any foreign COVID-19 vaccines and relies on several domestically developed shots.

In September, Moderna Chief Medical Officer Paul Burton had said the company was keen to collaborate with China on supplying its mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines to the country.

"We would certainly be very eager to collaborate with China if they felt that there was a need for a vaccine there," Burton had told a media briefing for reporters in Asia. "Currently, there is no activity going on, but we'd be very open to it."

https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/MODERNA-INC-47437573/news/Moderna-refused-China-request-to-reveal-vaccine-technology-FT-41909148/